Who Should Hear Confessions and Pronounce Absolution?
I listened to a recent podcast, in which the host, an LCMS parish pastor, said the following:
There is something very, very powerful about private “for you” Confession and Absolution rather than just corporate confession. I sound kind of old school, I guess, when I say that, but, I think there people need to hear, “Though your sin is scarlet it’s as white as snow, it's gone as far as the East is from the West,” that the heaviness of conscience [of] what you've done or failed to do, it's gone, nailed to the cross with Jesus for you… so you're forgiven in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I think sometimes with our big production or even larger churches like ours, we lose that personal invitation to experience the healing words of Jesus “for me,” which the “for you” component, “for me” component, that's very, very Lutheran….
If some person is burdened in their [sic] conscience, and it happens from time to time they're at odds, you know, with a brother or sister in Christ, and they need to make that right before coming and receiving the body and blood of Jesus, we… I don't know if it's better, but [a] more practical approach from a scale perspective is, for us, in small groups, like having a leader who's able to know what's going on, and offer that word of private, you could say, Confession and Absolution: that moment of Confession and Absolution. We've seen a lot of success, I guess, there in releasing the Office of the Keys to the priesthood of all believers, right, I oversee it, but it's been released out. “Whoever’s sins you forgive, they're forgiven, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” so we see that as kind of a leadership development opportunity out in our community.
I certainly appreciate his high view of Confession and Absolution, and agree with him that it is important. As an aside, in the presentation, the podcast host later complains about “clericalism” in the LCMS.
And I also appreciate the lay leadership at my congregation. They know, and do, things that I don’t have the vocation or the skills to do. But when it comes to Word and Sacrament ministry (and Holy Absolution is a sacrament, see Large Catechism 4:74 and Apology 13:4), and when it comes to giving private, confidential, pastoral, soul care (Seelsorge) - I think my lay leaders would be horrified, and rightly so, if I were to somehow “deputize” them to hear confessions on my behalf.
First of all, that is the pastor’s cross. It is not the laity’s burden to hear confessions. This is why it is part of our ordination vows. We specifically make a public vow that we will never reveal sins confessed to us. It is morally and legally binding. It is dreadfully serious. And it is our vocation.
Second, as a practical matter, pastors enjoy legal protection by virtue of their offices. Ordained pastors cannot be compelled to testify, for example, concerning statements made under the sacramental, confessional seal. That legal protection doesn’t extend to the laity - even if they are “small group leaders” or teach Sunday school, or are elders or trustees. There are also legal and ethical issues of reporting suspected abuse that differ between people of different vocations. What is the legal status of a lay-confessor in such a case? And if a lay leader were to hear a confession, and then break the seal, would the pastor be liable? Would the congregation? Where does the buck stop? Why are we so afraid to say that some things really are only located within the pastor’s vocation? We are not afraid to do this with any other vocation, whether it be a taxi driver, a police officer, or a physician.
Third, the Office of the Keys includes binding people to their sins and refusing them the Sacrament if they are unrepentant. How can the laity carry out this ministry? In order to tell the pastor to withhold the body and blood of Christ, would the deputized lay confessor have to break the seal of confession by talking with the pastor? We pastors certainly never repeat confessions to anyone - not to other pastors, not to lay leaders, not to our wives, not to the dogs, cats, or African violets - not to anybody. So how does that work?
Fourth, we have the words of the Small Catechism - which is not just for confirmands to memorize, but is confessionally normative for our pastors and churches - assigning this ministry of Confession and Absolution to pastors:
“We receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself.”
“Before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.”
“I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”
Moreover, in the Divine Service liturgies in our LSB hymnal (and I realize not all of our churches use the hymnal, and some write their own liturgies or just wing it) each and all assign absolution to the pastor, as shown by the rubric of the letter P (see pages 151, 167, 185, 203, and 214). The words “as a called and ordained servant” appear on each of these pages as well.
The podcaster argued that this method of lay absolution is necessary from a practical standpoint because of the size of his congregation. I looked it up. His parish has about 2,400 members, and a weekly attendance of about 800. The congregation is served by three pastors, one of whom is an SMP pastor. The pastor/podcaster makes no bones about his congregation’s ambitious plans for rapid and vast numerical growth: to become a megachurch with multiple campus sites.
This is one of the downsides of the megachurch. How can a pastor possibly get to know his parishioners on such a vast scale? Can he even say more than “hello” to all of them in a year? This is why the megachurch has to be busted up into microchurches (known as “small groups”) - headed up by non-pastors - while the pastor becomes a kind-of CEO overseeing the pyramid. How can he provide Seelsorge? How can he even learn everyone’s names when the membership rolls run into the thousands?
The church-growth and “pastoral leadership” movement must offload some of the pastoral work - including sacred, sacramental, spiritual care to the laity. And in order to do this, it becomes necessary to describe normal pastoral work being done by the pastor in normal congregations (as we have for centuries) as “clericalism,” while putting the burden of the Office of the Holy Ministry in their own churches on the backs of people whom God has not called into a vocation of pastoral care. And to carry this out, one has to disregard the Lutheran Confessions - and turn our ordination vows on their heads.
As the kids say, “What could possibly go wrong?”